416 Scientific Intelligence. 



minerals which were lately put into my hands by Mr. Brooke for chem- 

 ical examination, there was one which I found to consist of sulphuric 

 acid, chlorine, copper, and a little water. Although I had not enough 

 material to determine the proportions of the constituents, there can be 

 no doubt that it consists of sulphate and chlorid of copper, with a little 

 water. It occurs in small but beautiful fibrous crystals ; which, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Brooke, are hexagonal prisms, having the angles re- 

 placed, — and thus belong to the rhombohedral system. Their color is 

 a fine blue, — pale when the fibres are delicate, but much deeper where 

 they become thicker. Lustre, vitreous. Translucency considerable. 

 Locality, Cornwall. The mineral is associated with arseniate of cop- 

 per. Ten specimens are at present known ; one is in the British 

 Museum. 



3. On the Geological Structure of Barbadocs, and on the Fossil 

 Infusoria, described by Prof Ehrenberg, from the Tertiary Marls of 

 that Island; by Sir R. H. Schomburgk, (Proc. Brit. Assoc, 1847, 

 Athen., No. 1028.)— Barbadoes is about twelve miles in length from 

 north to south ; about one-seventh part, forming the district of Scot- 

 land, consists of tertiary sandstones and limestones, rising to the height 

 of nearly 1,200 feet above the sea. Over the rest of the island raised 

 coral reefs cover the entire surface, which is divided by vertical walls 

 of coral rock, some of them nearly 200 feet high, into six terraces, 

 indicating as many different periods of upheaval. In the lowest ot 

 these terraces, fifteen or twenty feet above high water, Indian hatchets 

 have been found in the reef, showing that the last movement had taken 

 place within the human period. The shells found at the height of 150 

 and 300 feet above the sea still live upon the adjacent coast. In the 

 southern part a well had been dug to the depth of 240 feet throug 

 compact coral rock. The highest part seems to have been the centre 

 of the elevating force : from this point ravines, some of them 250 fee 

 in depth, radiate in all directions towards the sea. The tertiary rocks 

 of the Scotland district are more or less inclined, and sometimes ver- 

 tical, or contorted. The marl beds, which form the greater part of the 

 series, are several hundred feet thick. Bitumen, bituminous coa an 

 sandstone, clays and ferruginous sands, are also found at Mount HiNa y 

 and Springfield. Burnt Hill, near Conset's Bay, is reported to have 

 been set on fire accidentally, and to have continued burning tor nv ^ 

 years. Slags are found on the surface bearing distinct marks of nre^ 

 and sandstone, containing bitumen and mineral oil, abound m 

 neighborhood. The summit of Bissey Hill, 986 feet above the se^ 

 consists of silicious limestone, containing teeth of two species of s a 

 (Lamna and Odontaspis), spines of Echini, and shells, one of wn^ 

 (Scalaria Ehrenbergii) is considered by Prof. Forbes to be '° f n ^u en . 

 miocene period. In the white marls of the Scotland district, M. & r ^ 

 berg has discovered the silicious skeletons of nearly 300 species 

 microscopic infusoria. These belong to a group called Polycistm^ ^ 

 M. Ehrenberg, and to fifteen genera found hitherto in the U» 

 Sicily, at Oran in Africa, in Greece, in the tripoli of Richmond in ^ 

 ginia, and in Bermuda ; some of them are forms now l£ lll S p r0 f # 

 North Sea, and at the bottom of the sea near the South Pole. J 



Ehrenberg remarks, that whilst phosphate of lime is the most imp 



h 



